Climate Strategy at CSBSJU

This week I learned about what CSB/SJU is doing to be sustainable on campus.  I had heard and even participated in some of the programs at school, like community kitchen.  There were some things that I did not know about though.  I had not idea that both St. Ben’s and St. John’s were have the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2035!  I was so impressed to hear that St. John’s has already taken great strides in reaching this goal, and that they have to rewrite the program.  One area of improvement that stuck out to me from both CSB and SJU plans was that we do not have any required courses on the environment.  I think that this is something that should be implemented into our common curriculum in some way.  Another important aspect is to make sure all of our students know of all CSB and SJU are doing to be sustainable on campus.  For example this week was the first time I’d heard about some of these programs and I am a junior year.  Some ideas offered were that as freshmen get adjusted to the school, RA’s or orientation leaders may aid is this awareness process.  When my group and I were brainstorming what some progressive moves the schools could take on we thought of taking energy from the fitness center and using that elsewhere.  I have charged my phone before by pedaling on a bike, I think that it would be a large job but extremely beneficial in the long run if we used the energy generated from the fitness machines.  This week overall makes me really excited to look at all that we have already done here and to look at all the possibilities that can be done in the future. 

Science Advice to Policy

Throughout this semester we’ve looked into different lenses of people and climate change.  This week while looking at scientists and policy makers it seemed to me that it would be so easy to make the connection between the two, but in reality it’s not.  I went to the showing of “The Island President” this week and that also helped me see the difficulties in translating scientific knowledge into policy action.  In an ideal world we would be able to easily show the evidence and what needs to be done and then be able to implement that into policy throughout the world.  I was really amazed by the amount of work and time that goes into creating the reports.  There are so many people that look over every detail of these papers.  The errors exposed in Jessica O’Reilly’s chapter were interesting to analyze.  The first error seemed so unlikely to make knowing the extensive process that these documents go through before being finalized.  This can absolutely take a toll on the credibility of the IPCC.  On the other hand, the second error was intentional.  I didn’t think about how the documents may change due to who is overseeing them.  In class, we talked about a very conservative leader and how she wouldn’t allow for anything other than certainty.  I like her approach in getting her point across without having the lash back of uncertainty.  It’s interesting to see how different people go about how they will express their main points.  I would like to understand more about the political systems of nations to see how that affects their stance and plan on climate change. 

Inequality and Development in Climate Studies

This week has helped me see how climate change is a political issue as well as an environmental problem.  Barnes states, “They are concerned about changes in the water supply, but they link these not to shifting climatic parameters but to the political and technical decisions that act as intermediaries between the water falling from the sky as rain and them receiving it.”  This shows how there are other decisions that are in place that can determine how much water one person gets.  Also in this chapter there the three perspectives of Egypt’s water.  One of these depends on the actions of other countries that lie upstream within the Nile Basin and how this affects Nile flows to Egypt.  Therefore, the decisions of surrounding nations affect Egypt’s water supply.  Going along with this is the idea that the most politically connected and influential among Egyptians will always receive the water they need, this shows the inequality experienced there.  As for the development attempted with REDD+ in Vietnam, it is clear to see there are areas that seem to be lacking.  The checklist idea seems good in a way to make sure a country is ready for the implementation of a program.  However, this model might not be having the full impact on preparing an area because it is not very in depth and leaves out aspects.  An equality aspect in this chapter by McElwee was how ethnic minorities were often blamed for being agents of deforestation.  These chapters helped me see how important it to individualize an environmental plan for a specific nation or region because each area is unique in it’s need and with its differences in societal relations. 

Future Climates: Modeling and Worst Case Scenarios

From the readings this week I got a much better understanding of our evidence of climate change.  One area that I found fascinating was the discussion of infrastructural globalism.  There are many different routes to go when looking at how to monitor the climate.  I think it’s so beneficial that we have the opportunity through technology and resources to be able to transmit information around the world.  With the changing of methods of the past it is a big step to establish permanent sociotechnical systems for monitoring weather.  Spanning form this was the concept of “thinking globally”.  I have heard this term often but have never thought about how it came about and why it is so popular today.  I thought that the image of earth from space would play a large part in this idea of interconnectedness.  I grew up in a time where at a very young age I had the opportunity to view this image from the Internet.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to see the image of the earth from space for the first time as an adult.  I bet this would be extremely moving and would play a role in the “One World” movement.  I think it’s essential for everyone to see and realize we all have the same home to live on and to take care of.  The idea of looking at the future of climate change is a little depressing but I am grateful that we have modeling and other predictions to be aware of the issue.  This evidence is so important to be used for making a difference and it has been helpful for me to see where we get all of the evidence on climate change. 

Denial, Skepticism, and Contrarianism

What I have learned this week has been largely related to the portrayal of information rather than the actual information itself.  I realized that certain people could misdirect the focus of something to make it appear to be completely opposite.  One example that really stuck out to me was in the film “Merchants of Doubt”.  The major cigarette companies got the people to believe that it was the furniture that were the problems with causing the fires, not the cigarettes themselves.  In a way this is the same argument climate deniers are using as well.  A response to climate change must be lifestyle change and place regulations on companies.  People, especially Americans, connect a need for a lifestyle change to their values and can feel personally harmed by the idea of losing some of their freedom to have regulations in place.  When an argument works on one’s emotions it has much greater significance than cold hard facts.  I found it very interesting that fears from the past can play a role in today’s policy especially on the topic of climate change.  Two scientists in the movie were climate deniers and were against anything that appeared to be socialist.  The regulations associated with climate change were seen to them as an infringement on freedom, and a step towards communism.  Another tactic that climate deniers used that appeared really absurd to me was to attack scientists.  I could see the reasoning behind attacking the people who were simply gathering the data for the public.  Scientists are not known to be the best public speakers or media representatives and therefore have a more troubling time conveying their message to the public.  The deniers used this to their advantage. Scientists rarely say they are one hundred percent certain about something; deniers capitalize on this as well and create doubt in the public.  I realized, sadly that the facts might not cut it and that we need to appeal to peoples emotions to make a real difference.